Pieces Of Control
by cophinehaus
Summary: If Luisa had said "yes".


i.

Rose fights the urge to shudder at Emilio's hand on the small of her back. Reminds herself what this is for - the business - and grits her teeth into a smile. She's to meet his children tomorrow, an engagement will come soon after and then she can spin her web. It'll be worth it in the end, she tells herself as she kisses his pock-marked cheek. She changes into her fuck-me dress and slinks off to a women's bar twenty minutes after Emilio shoves his tongue into her mouth as a goodbye. She's looking for someone to get the taste of a man out of her mouth and nothing else. Rose lets her charm loose on a woman named Luisa, who presses her hot body flush against her in a chilly pool. Luisa unravels her with a deliciously talented mouth and two digits. Rose turns more and more feral with every upward stroke, biting and scratching, wanting to devour every fibre of Luisa she can touch. Luisa sets her on fire. It's so much better than with Emilio, anyone she's been with. If that was to be her last experience with a woman until the end of her time with Emilio, she'd gone out with a bang. Rose leaves the hotel with weak knees, swollen sugar-dusted lips and a satisfied ache between her thighs.

ii.

Luisa turns out to be Emilio's daughter. Rose tries to ignore a flush of warmth at the added layer of twisted as she absentmindedly stares at a bite mark she left on Luisa. It can't happen again, of course it can't. Not like Rose wants it to happen again, wants to feel the reverberation of fireworks in time with the rocking of her hips, wants to feel blood in her mouth from stifling a moan with her lip, wants to feel Luisa flutter around her fingers. Of course not. She breaks it off, masking it as a fling. Luisa spits out a story about a girl named Allison and Rose feels inexplicably jealous. Wildly jealous. She flashes a smile and excuses herself.

iii.

Allison is real, as it turns out, and Rose ends up seeing a lot of her. Rose clenches her jaw through Luisa and Allison's wedding. Despite being with Luisa physically only once (two years ago) Rose is possessive. When Emilio is with Rose, she imagines Luisa. Her moans are less fake when she replaces her fiancé with his daughter. She closes her eyes and imagines Luisa fucking her from behind, her hand fisted in her red hair. Even when alone, Rose envisions Luisa's fingers in place of her own as she lulls herself into a fantasy time and time again. Luisa kisses her bride and Rose fights an urge to tear her away from Allison. Instead she sips her champagne and makes bitter conversation with whoever can fill the silence in her head. Tipsy from the open bar, Rose sways on her stilettos as she broods in the empty hallway. A flash of white catches her eyes and she drunkenly yells "Hey!" Luisa gives her a questioning look before Rose grabs the back of Luisa's neck and crashes her lips against her. She bites Rose's lip, hard. Rose whimpers in pain and Luisa growls. Rose drags her down a custodial hallway, away from prying eyes. Luisa's gown is rucked up to her waist in seconds and Rose is on her knees in less. Her lipstick looks ravenous on Luisa's inner thighs.

iv.

It isn't brought up. Ever.

v.

Rose gives Emilio one single kiss in which she doesn't replace him with a woman (or his daughter). In a church, of all places for Rose to be, under the altar at their wedding. Luisa kisses Allison's neck and Rose bites her tongue when jealousy wells up in her chest and threatens to pour out her mouth. Rose angrily excuses herself to the bathroom to 'touch up her makeup' and storms out, heels clicking menacingly on the tiled floor. As Rose hangs her head with her eyes closed, bracing herself with locked elbows against the sink, Luisa pins her to the counter from behind. Rose's hip bones grind into the bathroom counter as Luisa rolls her hips. Luisa husks something about 'following tradition' in her ear. It's been just over a year and Rose is dying. She gasps throatily as Luisa pulls the front of her dress down to expose her breasts before commanding Rose to look at her in the mirror. They don't break eye contact until Rose moans and throws her head back as Luisa fulfills her fantasy of being fucked from behind. Rose has a front row seat to her ultimate undoing.

vi.

They break it off, mutually. They're both married. And technically, mother and daughter. Rose's heart hurts and she's surprised that it does.

vii.

Rose fights bile when Emilio lays his hands on her, guiltily transforming her husband of three years into her ex-lover. Rose never got over Luisa -will never- even after they cut each other out of their lives. Three times with Luisa wasn't enough, will never be enough for Rose. When she sees Luisa's number illuminate her phone (she has it memorized although she deleted her contact) her heart flutters as she answers. She semi-listens to Luisa in her office, eyeing her chest and neck and her lips, she can practically taste her and- No. Not again. They agreed. Rose pours herself into the conversation, noticing all the quirks she lov- liked beforehand, before everything. It's not like Rose loves Luisa, that'd be ridiculous. They haven't spoken outside of forced meetings in over two years. Rose returns in a matter of days with coffee in hand. Luisa gives Rose a look that she's seen all of three times and Rose bites her lip. They can't. Oh, she knows. Luisa's featherlight kiss to her wrist does more damage than she cares to admit. Rose's thighs press shut in an act of defiance but one kiss from Luisa parts them easily. The coffee goes cold on the table as Rose rides Luisa's fingers like her life depends on it.

viii.

It won't happen again.

ix.

Of course it does.

x.

Luisa goes missing and Rose is losing it. Her anchor is gone, everything is a mess and all she needs is Luisa to calm her. She leaves at least thirty texts and nine voicemails. Not because she loves her. When Luisa returns, Rose's heart sings. But then Luisa wants to come clean, tell everyone, everything. She can't let it happen. Rose's heart crumbles as Luisa screams at her a mere matter of hours after being home. Her chest physically aches and all she wants is to run to her and cradle her, leave this god awful mess behind and devote her life to being with Luisa. But she can't, the business- Sin Rostro, she needs it to work out. And Emilio is crucial in that. She organizes Luisa's institutionalization and watches with false offence as she's forcefully taken from her. So she breaks Luisa into a thousand jagged pieces and pretends that her hands don't bleed with the pain of doing it. (The act itself breaks Rose into a million).

xi.

Guilt and release build a mixture that Rose had hoped would be sweeter than the acrid taste this leaves on her tongue. She pretends she's here wholly for Luisa, not for personal gain. Luisa is forceful, evidently wanting to punish Rose for all her wrongdoings. Luisa binds her wrists together, presses her down on the mattress and awakes a new hunger in Rose. Luisa pushes a palm against her neck, her pulse point, her windpipe and suddenly Rose is breathless in more ways than one. In one night Luisa makes Rose her submissive. Rose loves every second of it, her hips stutter stronger than they ever have and her throat is hoarse from begging and whining. It is delicious and sin in every way.

xii.

The cops are closing in.

xiii.

Why can't she stop _hurting_ Luisa. She's good and kind and intelligent, funny, valuable, strong and- _christ_ , she's so lost- she gives Luisa the key to her life; the location of her dead father. Luisa deserves so so much better than her. She fucked her over so many times, all because of Sin Rostro and the business. To hell with the business, to hell with Sin Rostro, to hell with everything and everyone that isn't Luisa Alver, the love of her life. Rose loves being in control, but she'll give it up without a second thought because she loves Luisa even more. She admits it five years later than when she had fallen for Luisa. She vows to spend the rest of her life making it up to her.

xiv.

'Are you ready to go?'

'Yeah, I guess.'

xv.

It takes time. Of course it does. And Rose doesn't dare breathe a word of her love until Luisa is ready for it. She doesn't want to manipulate, to scheme, to lie anymore. She gave up everything she had worked for since she was a child to be with Luisa, she wasn't going to fuck this up. Rose answers the big questions that Luisa poses with no hesitation and no details spared. Luisa vomits twice; once upon learning of Sin Rostro's death count, and once when Rose recounts the death (murder) of her father.

xvi.

Luisa curls up to Rose suddenly with tears in her eyes and sobs wracking her chest. Rose doesn't know how to react, what the protocol is for this. Luisa pulls at the front of her sweater like a child and Rose immediately pulls Luisa into her arms. Kisses the top of her head very gently. Rubs her back until her heaving breaths stop and she holds a silent Luisa. It is the first contact in weeks and Rose's skin is burning. She just wants to hold Luisa, be near Luisa, be with Luisa. But she can wait.

xvii.

Luisa still asks occasional questions about her (ex) business and her personal life. They're random while washing dishes or reading the paper, getting groceries. Luisa's even called Rose from her office a few times. Did she ever have other names? Why did she choose to wear a wig instead of dye her hair? What did her parents do? Rose answers every question easily and with confidence as her fingers trace circles on her own knuckles (sometimes Luisa's). Luisa ponders her responses with a knitted brow and a slight pout before returning to whatever it was she was doing before. Sometimes she swallows and leaves to think for periods of time, a few hours even. Rose respects her space and lets her come back when she's ready. She always will.

xviii.

Luisa holds her hand - a new thing for Rose entirely - and it's lovely. Luisa touches the small of her back in passing and it makes her entire body hum contently."I love you" she breathes against Luisa's lips. Luisa's lips curl up into a smile. "I know. I love you too." Her entire being is weightless, full to the brim with love. Rose's business is long gone, she's untraceable to the faceless Sin Rostro. The investigation had blown over years ago, with all leads disappearing into thin air (upon Rose's final orders). Luisa and Rose fly from country to country, wandering the cobblestones of Italy one day and the beaches of France the next. Luisa flicks sand onto Rose's pale skin with her tongue poking out between her teeth. Rose's cheeks hurt from smiling so much: she's free, as free as she's ever been and it's all thanks to Luisa.


End file.
